The Lessons of the 1970s: Applying Efficiency to Modern Memory Usage

Opinion: Register readers of a certain age will recall the events of the 1970s, where a shortage of fuel due to various international disagreements resulted in queues, conflicts, and rising costs. One result was a drive toward greater efficiencies. Perhaps it's time to apply those lessons to the current memory shortage.

As memory prices continue to rise, it is time for engineers to reconsider their applications and toolchains' voracious appetite for memory. Does a simple web page really need megabytes to show a modern "Hello World"? Today’s Windows Task Manager executable occupies 6 MB on disk, demanding nearly 70 MB to shed light on how memory-hungry Chrome has become. Its original version weighed just 85 KB disk space, and although modern browsers are more functional, they are not orders of magnitude more efficient.

Veterans of effective software running in kilobytes often shake their heads at the wastefulness of current engineering practices. Progress in technology and increasing memory densities seemed to justify the bloat, making protests about excess resources seem like "old man yells at cloud." But with the recent surge in AI applications and data center expansion, these complacency attitudes are being challenged anew.

The Impact of AI and Rising Memory Costs

• Server prices are expected to jump 15% as memory costs spike.
• The Raspberry Pi 5, offering 1 GB of RAM, arrives amid soaring memory prices.
• Commodity memory prices are projected to double as wafer fabrication plants pivot toward AI markets.
• Memory price cycles are resurging, with Samsung reportedly raising prices by 60%.

Developers need to critically assess the necessity of frameworks and the resources they consume. Focusing on efficiency—both in software and hardware—can lead to significant savings in costs and energy. Managers should facilitate this by allocating space and resources for optimizing toolchains, emphasizing compactness and efficiency at rest and during operation.

Remembering the Past to Inform the Future

It is often joked that the computing power that enabled humans to land on the Moon pales in comparison to that of today’s smartphones. Yet, it wasn’t so long ago that functional applications and operating systems operated seamlessly from floppy disks, with RAM measured in kilobytes rather than gigabytes.

Reversing decades of software bloat is not an overnight process. It requires a shift in mindset and outlook, encouraging rethinking of toolchains and rewarding efficiency. In the 1970s, energy shortages prompted a focus on efficiency; today, growing memory shortages might drive software development towards leaner, more resource-conscious solutions.

Conclusion: A Call for Change

The current memory shortage offers an opportunity to revisit the fundamental principles of computing—emphasizing compactness, efficiency, and sustainability. By learning from the past, developers and managers can help shape a more resource-conscious future where software does not fill every byte with needless fluff.